Two teens jailed for killing Daejaun Campbell, 15

Daejaun Campbell died after he was stabbed on Eglinton Road in Woolwich in September 2024

Two "cowardly" teenagers have been jailed for killing a 15-year-old boy in a gang-related machete attack in south-east London.

Imri Doue, 18, from Woolwich, was found guilty of murdering Daejaun Campell and his co-accused Marko Balaz, 19, from Abbey Wood, was convicted of manslaughter. A third defendant, Jacob Losiewicz, 18, was cleared of murder.

The Old Bailey heard Daejaun had cried out "I'm 15, don't let me die" after he was ambushed in September last year. Doue was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 21 years and Balaz for 11 years.

Speaking to journalists outside court, Daejaun's mother Jodie Taylor said: "Justice hasn't been served - it will never be."

Marko Balaz, 19, from Abbey Wood, was convicted of manslaughter

The prosecution said the killers were captured on doorbell footage going into a home on Eglington Road, before Daejaun walked past "in clear view of anyone looking out of the windows."

Shortly afterwards, Doue and Balaz were seen outside the house, wearing dark clothing and in Doue's case, a balaclava.

The court heard that eyewitnesses saw Daejaun running up the path apparently being chased by two males and heard a female voice shout "he's been stabbed."

One witness heard Daejaun screaming and calling for help as he was stabbed.

'Pathetic cowards'

Mrs Taylor faced her son's killers in court and said: "I keep asking 'when will this knife crime epidemic end?'

"The reality is actions like yours tear families and communities apart."

She condemned her son's killers as "pathetic cowards" and said Daejaun was let down repeatedly by the system that was meant to protect him.

Mrs Taylor criticised the killers for their lack of remorse and said their sentence should reflect the "devastation" they had caused.

In her sentencing remarks, Judge Sarah Munro KC echoed Mrs Taylor's words, telling the court: "As she rightly says, enough young lives have been lost already."

Daejaun had been "sucked in" to a life in which carrying a knife was the "norm" and the defendants took away his chance to turn away from his "criminal behaviour", she said.

Judge Sarah Munro KC passed sentencing on the teenage defendants

In a statement on behalf of Daejaun's family, Shalina Brown said the country's leaders - Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Sadiq Khan and David Lammy - talked of reform "while our children die".

She said: "Until it learns to protect the innocent before it comforts the guilty, more mothers will stand where I stand, and more names like Daejaun's will be carved into stone long before their time.

"Those who choose violence are given chances. Those who choose love are given graves."

Daejaun's death came months before his friend - and aspiring rapper - Kelyan Bokassa, 14, was fatally stabbed with a machete on a bus.

Kelyan, nicknamed Grippa, had featured in a YouTube music video in which he was seen crouching beside a floral tribute to Daejaun.

Both boys' killings had been linked to street gang culture with Daejaun described as being exploited and groomed by older youths.

Jurors heard the motive for the killing was unclear but that Daejaun had been carrying money and drugs, possibly crack cocaine.